March 22, 2010

Student Visa Fraud Scheme Discovered in California

As part of an ongoing investigation involving a student visa fraud scheme, ICE, the FBI, and the LAPD combined efforts and resources resulting in a California man being charged with conspiring to commit visa fraud, and 16 foreign students being arrested.

According to ICE, the defendant and associates obtained student visas for foreign nationals from Lebanon, Kuwait, Turkey, Qatar, and the UAE by taking required exams and English proficiency tests and completing class assignments for them after obtaining counterfeit California driver’s licenses using the individuals’ personal information and posing as them in classes and at exam sites.

The California defendant faces up to five years in prison, while ten of the arrested students are being charged criminally for visa fraud, with the other six being placed in removal proceedings for administrative immigration violations.

ICE has stated that the investigation of this conspiracy, first started in January of 2002, remains ongoing.

The complete ICE press release can be viewed here.